22 Lose Jobs at Port Auto Prep Firms
Twenty-two Teamsters Union workers who prepared foreign cars for shipment to dealerships on the West Coast were laid off this week after the sale of three Terminal Island auto processing firms where they worked.
The layoffs reduced by 10% the work force at Crown Auto Body, Overseas Processing Co. and Terminal Island Processing Co., which have been purchased by T & T Auto Transport Co.
T & T, the American subsidiary of an Australian transportation conglomerate, completed the purchase of the three firms last Friday and announced the layoffs Monday, said Steve Sayer, a company vice president.
A representative of the Teamsters Automotive, Industrial and Allied Workers Local 495 plans to meet this week with T & T officials to discuss the layoffs.
“There is concern, obviously,” said George Park, a business representative for the local. “We are trying to see now if there is anything we can do to get them reinstated.”
Remove Nicks, Scrapes
The employees were among about 200 at the Terminal Island firms who remove nicks and scrapes from cars shipped to Los Angeles from overseas. They also install stereos and other accessories, wash cars and load them onto trucks and railroad cars for shipment.
Sayer said the workers were laid off because the Terminal Island auto processors will have 17% fewer cars to work on this year than last. He declined to give specific numbers but said the loss of business was caused by three luxury car makers moving to other ports.
In the last two years, BMW and Jaguar stopped importing through Crown Auto Body at the Port of Los Angeles. Both companies now send their cars through Port Hueneme in Ventura County, where they have built their own car processing plants. In addition, Saab this year terminated its contract with Crown Auto Body and began shipping its cars through the Port of Long Beach.
The Port of Los Angeles estimated that 480,000 imported cars passed over its docks in the 1985-86 fiscal year, and port officials said they eventually hoped to handle 600,000 cars a year.
But the move of some car makers to other ports, as well as a general slump in imports because of the weakness of the U.S. dollar, has reduced shipments through Los Angeles. The port took in 447,000 cars in the 1987-88 fiscal year, the most recent figures available, said Jeff Leong, a spokesman for the port.
T & T hopes to prevent further slippage by improving the quality of its operation, Sayer said. “That’s a concern we have,” he said. “We are going to watch it closely.”
Workers at Crown Auto Body, Overseas Processing Co. and Terminal Island Processing Co. met with T & T management last Friday and learned about the possible layoffs. The company interviewed all non-management employees over the weekend and announced the layoffs Monday.
